


Without Words

by szm



Category: Teen Wolf (TV)
Genre: M/M
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2013-01-04
Updated: 2013-01-04
Packaged: 2017-11-23 13:52:17
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 865
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/622884
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/szm/pseuds/szm
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Derek doesn’t trust words, he never really did. People use them to deceive, to hurt, to wound, and even to kill. Kate got him so wound up in her words (whispers, promises, lies, and half-truths) that he ignored what his senses were telling him.</p><p>So Derek tries to use words as little as possible. He listens more to heartbeats now, takes stock of body language and how people stand. Where they chose to put themselves, how they align themselves to the others in the room.</p><p>But Stiles, words are his shield and his sword, his comfort and his defence. He hides in definitions and attacks with sarcasm.</p>
            </blockquote>





	Without Words

Derek doesn’t trust words, he never really did. People use them to deceive, to hurt, to wound, and even to kill. Kate got him so wound up in her words (whispers, promises, lies, and half-truths) that he ignored what his senses were telling him.

So Derek tries to use words as little as possible. He listens more to heartbeats now, takes stock of body language and how people stand. Where they chose to put themselves, how they align themselves to the others in the room.

But Stiles, words are his shield and his sword, his comfort and his defence. He hides in definitions and attacks with sarcasm. But he uses them to help and heal too. A few words from Stiles can calm Scott in a way even Allison can’t sometimes and he can make Erica smile through tears with one obscure comic book reference. 

Derek isn’t completely useless, he can Google with the best of them. But _Stiles_ , Stiles can pull meaning and worth from all the thousands of superfluous and contradictory words on the internet with a speed that makes Derek’s head hurt. And then he makes it look _easy_. 

Stiles and Peter fight with words all the time, even when they seem friendly. Derek can’t follow it, but he can sense the danger, so can Scott. But Scott trusts that Stiles will win, when it comes to words, that Stiles in that arena can beat anyone. But Derek worries, because he can’t join in that fight, most of the time he can’t even tell who’s winning. Sometimes he’s not even sure who he’s supposed to be routing for, because both of them have sharp edges of vicious practicality when they think they need to protect or avenge. The sides are never clear cut, because Peter is his family and Stiles is his… whatever this is. Again words fail Derek.

Derek can’t even read Stiles’ body language. It’s too fast, seemingly out of Stiles control. Arms flail, and his heartbeat is anything but consistent even at rest. Stiles makes movements faster than he thinks, surprising even himself. Derek likes to be still, to listen and observe. It makes Stiles nervous, and he fills the space with words, fast, and random. But with some kind of pattern, some kind of code that makes the others smile, or make them angry, or ask if Stiles’ is okay. Like they can discern something of Stiles from the words when the words are all Derek can perceive. A baffling array of words piled on top of each other, completely hiding Stiles from view. 

Stiles told Scott to let Derek die, then did everything in his power to save him. Told Derek to trust him then let go and Derek sunk like a stone. Only to be saved by the boy who’d once threatened to drag him out into the road and let him die.

Derek knows it works both ways. That Stiles loses him in silence the way Derek loses Stiles in words. That Stiles _needs_ words that Derek can’t say. 

The first time Derek kissed Stiles it was desperation. They were hiding from the Alpha pack, Derek was cold and exhausted and bleeding and Stiles had one of his running monologues going. Under his breath, not really meant for anyone’s ears but his own. Words and words falling around Derek. 

Concern for Scott in the same breath as cursing him for not being there, for not answering his phone.

Anger at Derek for being hurt. 

Worry that his homework wasn’t done. 

Word after meaningless word and Derek just pressed his lips to Stiles to make them stop. To make Stiles still just for a moment so Derek could try to understand, and there it was. The first time he felt something from Stiles that he 100% believed. Written in the pressure of Stiles mouth of his, the way it opened up for Derek. The way Stiles’ breath hitched and his fists tightened in Derek’s jacket.

‘Please don’t die.’

After that Derek couldn’t stop kissing Stiles. There’s something about Stiles, something deep inside behind the words and the movement that Derek can’t get enough of. Something in Stiles that no one else gets to see. Something that only Derek even knows about. It’s beautiful, simultaneously terribly simple and terribly complex. Something that calls to its equal in Derek.

They don’t talk about it. That might even be Derek’s favourite part. Not to each other and not to the others. As far as Derek can tell not even Scott knows. They find times that they can be alone, stolen hours and half hours where they make out like teenagers. The teenager Stiles is and Derek isn’t. They make time for it, even as the Alpha pack closes in and the world becomes more and more dangerous. Stiles as greedy for this undefinable connection as Derek. 

Derek knows this won’t last. Life has taught him over and over that everything you hold dear is taken from you, usually violently. But Derek is never willingly going to let this go. Even if he doesn’t know what it is.

And he knows Stiles feels the same. Because Stiles has told him.


End file.
